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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26991871">your splendour alight in many hues</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willshebemina/pseuds/Willshebemina'>Willshebemina</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>these mauve colours [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Assassin's Creed - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dialogue Heavy, F/M, M/M, Response to a Request, this will make no sense if you haven’t read these mauve colours, well to be fair this is nothing but dialogue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:35:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>962</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26991871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willshebemina/pseuds/Willshebemina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“We heard a funny story about a ghost recently,” Livia said. </p>
<p>“Oh?” Ezio couldn’t see how that had anything to do with him, but wasn’t about to be so rude as to point this out. </p>
<p>“Yes, there’s this vengeful ghost of a murdered white-robed monk with shadows instead of a face that goes around killing people in the night,” Maria explained. Now he saw how this might be relevant to him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ezio Auditore da Firenze/Leonardo da Vinci (mentioned), Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>these mauve colours [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969942</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>your splendour alight in many hues</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello! it’s been over three years, I know, but a certain “Madison” left a comment on these mauve colours stating that they would like to see a continuation or spinoff where the girls Livia and Maria find out what it is that Ezio does. i don’t think this is quite what they had in mind, but unfortunately i have “from the lemon tree” keeping me from writing anything lengthier, and also this is what inspiration provided me with. it is frightfully short, and was written in about 15 minutes in the notes app on my phone. it is less “the girls discover Ezio’s murder habits” and more “the girls ask Ezio what all that killing-people business is about”. it is indulgent and not very necessary, but it was a joy to write regardless. to those of you who are interested, i hope it can give you some joy as well.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">these stains won’t wash away - they will be painted anew, and your splendour alight in many hues</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p class="p1"> </p><hr/>
<p class="p1"> </p>
<p>“We heard a funny story about a ghost recently,” Livia said. </p>
<p>“Oh?” Ezio couldn’t see how that had anything to do with him but wasn’t about to be so rude as to point this out. <br/>
<br/>
“Yes, there’s this vengeful ghost of a murdered white-robed monk with shadows instead of a face that goes around killing people in the night,” Maria explained. Now he saw how this might be relevant to him. “If you see him, it’s only because someone’s died. If you can hear him, it’s too late, you’re dead. Most of his victims don’t even hear him before he’s slit their throat. He stalks the rooftops and comes down on his prey from above, like a hawk hunting mice. Know anything about that?”</p>
<p><br/>
“That sounds very fanciful and silly to me,” Ezio said. “I think you’re both smart enough not to believe in something as fanciful and silly as ghosts.”</p>
<p><br/>
“You’re right,” her companion Livia said. “We don’t. But we do know of a man that likes to climb on rooftops, dresses in white and covers his face with a hood. We just don’t know if that silly man goes around killing people. Would you know anything about that?”</p>
<p><br/>
“If I did, it would be very stupid of me to admit it,” Ezio pointed out. </p>
<p>“Oh, you do have a brain. I was worried,” Livia said, and ignored the swat Maria gave her arm. </p>
<p><br/>
“See, we’re having a bit of a crisis in judgment,” Maria said. “We are struggling to reconcile the silly man who trembled at asking some girls for advice on flowers with a spectre of vengeful murderous intent. Could you explain how those two truths could coexist?”</p>
<p><br/>
“I am sad to tell you I can’t,” Ezio admitted. “As it is something I have often wondered myself, and a matter that often keeps me from sleep. Surely anyone would prefer to worry about flowers rather than lives lost due to the cruelty of a few.”</p>
<p><br/>
“Have you considered just not murdering people?” Livia asked, as blunt as a club. </p>
<p><br/>
Despite the dark subject matter, it was enough to startle a laugh out of him. “Often! As it is, someone has to. I don’t know how to explain it to those who haven’t lost as I have.”</p>
<p><br/>
“Causing loss seems counterproductive, then,” Maria said. </p>
<p><br/>
“Causing loss to prevent even further loss. It is pre-emptive self defence. I can list to you all the reasons I use to defend my actions against myself, but they wouldn’t be enough. I’m born from corruption, and killing my maker is what drives me. Worrying about flowers is what keeps me human.”</p>
<p><br/>
Livia and Maria looked at each other for a long time, and then looked at him longer still. Their eyes burned at him the same as they had when he stood before them with a request. If he had a request now, he didn’t know it, and yet he felt it. </p>
<p><br/>
At last, Livia shrugged, and the tension in Maria’s figure loosened. “Well, I feel none the wiser,” Livia said. </p>
<p><br/>
“Or lighter in spirit,” said Maria. </p>
<p><br/>
“But,” Livia pulled her arm back behind her head, tugged, and then her blond curls fell down and forward in a creased mess. She brushed the worst of it behind her ears, nonplussed, and then held out her hand towards Ezio. In her grip, she held a long green ribbon, the colour of fresh spring grass. </p>
<p><br/>
“Take this,” Livia said. “No matter what you believe, you seem to me a man who’s had enough red on him.”</p>
<p><br/>
Stunned, Ezio’s hand reached for it with no conscious thought, and even with the insignificant yet heavy weight of the soft gift between his fingers, it didn’t quite seem real. </p>
<p><br/>
“I’m at a loss for words,” he confessed. <br/>
<br/>
“‘Thank you’ would be the customary response, I think,” Maria said. </p>
<p>Ezio smiled, as broadly as the smiles he usually reserved for his sweetheart. “Thank you. I’m afraid I’ve never been good with my hair, though. Would one of you be as generous as to help me?”</p>
<p>As if they would refuse; they lead him towards the nearest seat, where both could step behind to undo the red ribbon in his hair. It was a treasure to him as well, having been gifted by Leonardo, and he tucked it away safely in his pocket. </p>
<p>Still, he leaned his head forward and let whichever one of the girls it was combing her fingers through his hair and, unexpectedly, start at his crown rather than his neck. </p>
<p>“We’re braiding it,” Maria announced before he could ask. </p>
<p>“So your fringe won’t hide your face for once,” Livia elaborated. “So make sure your dear heart friend knows who to thank once he sees you.”<br/>
<br/>
He chuckled. “Of course.”</p>
<p><br/>
As strange as it felt to have all his hair done up, with only some stay hairs by his ears left undone, he enjoyed it. Not so much for how it looked, braided and tied off with a ribbon that clashed with everything else he wore, as neither of them had a mirror. He loved it for how much like peace he felt, to have been so cared and thought for — and from young girls that were nearly strangers, and who knew nothing of darkness, and still looked a killer in the eye and made him flinch. <br/>
<br/>
“Thoughts?” One of them asked, it could have been either. He reached his hand back and touched it delicately, the fine even parts of it, and the soft green silk that held it together. </p>
<p>He smiled up at them both, and at their proud grins, and said, “I love it.” And that was all. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>👁👄👁</p>
<p> The common thread woven throughout my fanworks seems to just be “wlw going ‘why are you like this’ @ Ezio” . it’s me i’m the wlw</p></blockquote></div></div>
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